Review JN027: Legends of Heroes! Dande's Greatest Battle!!

[Alola]

Go ahead and discuss the episode here!

JN027 - Bulbapedia, the community-driven Pokémon encyclopedia

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[FinnishPokéFan92]

Was just going to create this thread myself. Oh, well...

Well... That ending was... unexpected...

 

[Singaporean]

Great episode better than the last week repetitiveness. Congratulations for Ash finally catch his first ever Galarian Pokemon. While Leon remain undefeated and continue earn his repetition as the Galar Champion by defeating the Gym Leader.

Overall rating: B+

 

[Panky..]

Holy freakin' Arceus...

This awesome episode was full of twists and turns that I (nor anyone) would have seen coming at all. Getting so many foreshadowing moments like Sonia and her research into the Darkest Day, Rose's somewhat eerie on-screen appearance, the hero of Galar story etc. as well as unexpected stuff like Riolu's first battle and Ash catching the Galarian Farfetch'd in a surprise turn of events (we all thought that it would 100% be a Goh capture... I'm actually a bit worried about the next episode and who'll be capturing Sobble now). Then again, a lot of speculation and hopes were that Ash would get a Sirfetch'd eventually even before Pokemon 2019/Journeys was a thing, and now, Riolu has an active rival in the party.

Now onto the gripes. The advertisement of the episode stated that the primary focus would be the battle between Leon and Raihan, and despite it being exciting, it felt far too rushed. This is a similar situation to Episode 25 where the main aspect of the episode is crammed into 10 minutes while other plot points are utilized in the other half, kind of makes the advertising a bait-and-switch. The animation was also too static and felt somewhat like a clipshow, which makes it appeal less than the initial Master Class battle.

Also the biggest sin of them all... no selfie from Raihan.

P.S: Does anyone else think that Sonia talks in a similar manner to Koharu? Thank Arceus they kept the Victorian design for Galar!Joy.

 

[BigDocFan]

Definitely a lot more enjoyable than last week, my biggest complaint being that despite the title being Legends of Heroes! Dande's Greatest Battle!!, Leon's greatest battle barely took up half of the episode. I feel that they should have focused the whole episode on the battle, maybe have a 2 on 2 match and focus another episode on Farfetch'd.

So glad that Ash caught Galarian Farfetch'd instead of Goh, hopefully he'll get Sirfetch'd in the future.

 

[LagCross]

Holy moly! Riolu's first fight and Ash's first regional variant. The battle of the master was okay Rose first appearance and Sonia's with lore building. Man this episode is something.

 

[Charcoatl]

I'm so happy Ash caught that Galarian Farfetch'd, really hope that means Goh is getting Sobble next week.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

Rose's debut and Ash catching the Farfetch'd were both things that caught be by total surprise.

Riolu's new moves were Force Palm, Double Team, and... I don't think I quite got the third one. Farfetch'd used Night Slash and Brutal Swing.

EDIT: Riolu's third new move was Reversal.

 

[nickdt]

Unexpected captures are the best captures. Also kinda funny that his first gen 8 Pokemon is a Galarian Form and his second will be the Water starter.

 

[RetroPokeFan]

A mini bout between Raihan and Leon, Sonia debuting, Rose getting a cameo and on top of that

Spoiler

Ash catching a Farfetch’d of all things making it quite an interesting member

makes this a pretty enjoyable episode indeed.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

Unexpected captures are the best captures. Also kinda funny that his first gen 8 Pokemon is a Galarian Form and his second will be the Water starter.

Actually, the preview hints more towards Goh getting it.

 

[nickdt]

Actually, the preview hints more towards Goh getting it.

We got that scan that listed Sobble alongside Gengar, Dragonite and Riolu a while back.

 

[Skalesgon]

Also the biggest sin of them all... no selfie from Raihan.

Why no selfies?

 

[P_S_B]

I enjoyed this episode. The battle had good music but didn't seem to have as high of a budget as previous big battles and came down to the standard G-Max vs. G-Max which doesn't work as well in anime because stadiums are only so big and limit what the kaijus can do, so it might have been better if they both had two Pokémon and it took the whole episode. But then we wouldn't get the second half, which would be a shame because it was the second half that I particularly enjoyed. Nice to see Sonia, Rose and the seeds of the Galar games' story being planted at last and I also enjoyed seeing G-Farfetch'd, especially how it kept saying, "come on," in the same way they used Scyther to say, "strike," in the baseball episode.

Spoiler: Spoiler

Seeing the Farfetch'd go to Ash was a pleasant surprise because I was expecting to see Ash do the battle and Goh catch it, so it was fun to see Ash catch what he earned. It's also good because Farfetch'd clearly loves to battle, so it going to Goh would have felt like a waste given his overall lack of battle drive.

Overall it was a good episode and I would like to see more like it.

 

[dawn dusk]

As I said Galarian Farfetch'd went to Ash but little early than I told.

 

[nickdt]

I'm so happy Ash caught that Galarian Farfetch'd, really hope that means Goh is getting Sobble next week.

I see no point in Ash having Galarfetch'd/Sirfetch'd, since its gonna get overshadowed by Lucario anyways since they are both Fighting types with the same fighting style.

 

[Skalesgon]

I saw the King do his awesome pose.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

We got that scan that listed Sobble alongside Gengar, Dragonite and Riolu a while back.

The scan could've been a red herring too. We just don't know yet.

 

[Alola]

This episode did the most, my goodness. Makes you wonder why they didn't just split it into a pair rather than give us what they did last week. Although, I guess they're somewhat doing that next week since we'll still be in Galar. Anyway...

First Act:

Will every Leon battle start off with a surprise pair of tickets to the match? That aside, at least the first half of the episode was dedicated to the fight...which I had mixed feelings about. I know I sound like a broken record, but there's just a difference between what Iwane animates and what he doesn't. Case in point, this battle was a lot less dynamic than the previous World Tournament match Leon had. Even the near-entirely different move-set Charizard had didn't help with the lethargic back-and-forth (although seeing it use Dig was pretty cool; took me back to those Johto days). Also, Raihan having the upper hand non-Dynamax was undermined when the Dynamax does happen and he gets immediately curbstomped. It also says something about Leon's Charizard too; we've seen two matches now where it practically needed Gigantimaxing in order to win.

But let's talk about Raihan for a bit. 1) He took no selfies... 2) His Duraludon knew no Dragon-type moves during the battle, despite Raihan being repeatedly touted as Galar's Dragon-type Gym Leader during the fight. Thus, we didn't get to see G-Max Depletion either. Really, a waste of potential one of my favorite Gym Leaders was. What I did like was the fact that Leon changed up his Charizard's move-set specifically to deal with Duraludon; it's fitting of someone who pays attention to type advantages and has never lost. Overall, I would have liked to see a more evenly paced fight between the two "rivals."

Second Act:

Sonia! She did the hair twirl! She did it twice! We got lore into the history of Galar, with its king of Galar and Darkest Day. I really liked this part as I'm a fan of when the anime adapts game elements. Finally, something story driven in regards to Galar (aside from that Eternatus cameo which will probably go nowhere like Zekrom before it). I hope they expand upon this in the future. Also, we got...a Rose cameo! For the first time in the main anime! Will he endorse Ash to take the Galar Gym Challenge? Who knows-find out in the uncertain future.

Third Act:

I literally laughed out loud when Go tried his routine automatic capture, only to fail...then an actual battle, only to fail at that too... Truly, it was hilarious. That aside, kudos to Riolu getting some spotlight and holding its own during battle. It's got a full move-set too now, with Force Palm, Vacuum Wave, Reversal, and Double Team (what will it do against Ghost-types?). I honestly didn't know who was going get the Farfetch'd...after they went to the Pokemon Center, I 33% expected it to just walk away even though that'd go against promotional material as of late. So then Ash caught it...giving him...a) a Farfetch'd b) his first (!) regional variant and c) another pure Fighting-type on the team. I'm truly, truly baffled-I don't know what to expect anymore with this series, and that's not a complaint. Anything can happen now-the status quo has officially been broken (if it wasn't already). Anyone can literally get Sobble in the next episode, at this rate (although I prefer it to be Ash).

I was hoping Go would take to heart Ash's words on tenacity during Pokemon battles, but I'm afraid any potential development will have fallen on deaf ears; time will tell if Go will actually be able to give us a substantial battle, from start to finish at some point. And speaking of battles, does this episode hold the title of the most varied moves used overall? I counted at least thirteen...

Lastly, wow-Sobble was just the cutest thing. I didn't think much of it prior, but its animation has won me over.

 

[Egakor]

It seems Riolu has 3 new moves thanks to Ash's training: Force Palm, Double Team & Reversal. Ash trained it well.